ONLINE NEWSLETTER (No. 11/2005 - September 2005)

Editor: Fran Bock

Dr. Leonid Smilovitsky of Tel Aviv University has been a prolific researcher into the Holocaust in the former Soviet Union, and the fate of Jewish communities throughout that region, as well as a frequent contributor to this web site. His paper on Ghettos in the Gomel Oblast of Belorussia was presented at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Center for Advanced Studies Symposium on the Holocaust in the Soviet Union, held November 2003 in Washington, D.C.

We thank Dr. Smilovitsky and the USHMM for permission to publish his paper.

Reprinting or copying of this article is not allowed without prior permission from the copyrightholders.

Ghettos in the Gomel
Region:

Commonalities
and Unique Features, 1941-42

byLeonid Smilovitsky, Ph.D.,

DiasporaResearchCenter Lester and Sally Entin Faculty of
the HumanitiesTelAvivUniversity

On the Eve of
the Holocaust

The Gomel Region (oblast) was formed in January 1938 in the southwest region of Belorussia ,
which neighbors Russia
and Ukraine .
On January 1, 1941, the region included 15 districts (rayony): Buda-Koshelevo, Vetka, Gomel, Dobrush, Zhlobin,
Zhuravichi, Korma, Loev, Rogachev, Rechitsa, Streshin, Svetilovichi,
Uvarovichi, Terekhov, and Chechersk, 235 rural councils (selsovety), six cities, eight small towns, and one working
settlement (rabochi posiolok). The
Gomel Region was the smallest of the ten pre-war regions on the Belorussian
territory. It contained 15,800 square kilometers, or 7% of the
republic’s territory. The capital of the Region, the city of Gomel
(301 kilometers from Minsk),
served as a major industrial center and transportation junction. It connected
all railroad and automobile routes toZhlobin, Kalinkovichi, Bobruisk,
Mogilev ( Belorussia ),
Chernigov, Shchors, Novozybkov ( Ukraine )
(see Appendix, table 1).

The makeup of the population of the
Gomel Region was multinational and at the beginning of 1941, the population totaled
917,100. Mostly Belorussians and Jews lived here, as well as Russians,
Ukrainians, Latvians, Czechs, Poles, and Germans. Before 1938, the national
minorities had their own ethnic neighborhoods and regions (1).

In January 1939, Jews were the third largest
group after Belorussians in the Gomel Region: 80.8% Belorussians, 7.8%
Russians, 7.4% Jews, 2.7 Ukrainians, 0.5 Poles and 0.8% others (Piotr
Eberhardt. Przemiany narodowosciowe na Bialiorusi. Warsawa, 1994, s. 134).
Excluding the capital (Gomel), Jews
numbering in the region itself as 20,969and mostly they lived in
villages and small towns. The largest Jewish populations were in Korma
(40.3%), Streshen (33%), Rechitsa (24.3%), Zhlobin and Chechersk (20%).(2) Jews were widely represented among
officials, the intelligentsia, doctors, engineers and technical workers, and
other skilled workers. They actively participated in civic and cultural life(3). The Jewish population of the Gomel
region from 1939 to 1941 was raised due to the natural increase and inflow of
refugees from the nearby-occupied Poland .
By summer 1941, the total Jewish population of this District had reached
22,360, including 1,391 Jewish refugees(4). The
Jewish population of the city of Gomel by January 1939 was estimated at
40,880 people. We may assume that it was increased by natural cause and
inflow of refugees (700 people) and had reached at least 44,000 by summer
1941. (5) Therefore, the total Jewish
community of both the city of Gomel
and Gomel District was around 70,000 people by the outbreak of the
Soviet-German war.

Defense

At the beginning of the war, Belorussia
became the location of some of the most destructive battles as it lay across
the route of advance of the main
German armies directed toward Moscow.
Initially people were disoriented and awaited the Red Army’s
counteroffensive. The defense of Gomel
was pivotal to the fate of the city’s Jews. In the first ten-days of
July 1941, Gomel was still
considered a relatively safe place, so the officials of the Central Committee
of the Communist Party and other government authorities of the BSSR moved
here from Mogilev. Soviet troops
crossed over to the right bank of the Dniepr
River and on July 3 carried out a
surprise attack on the enemy. They freed Rogachev and Zhlobin, but were unable
to retake Bobruisk. This success
inspired hope that the situation was still not so bad. However, on August 12,
German forces seized the Dniepr again in the Streshin district and began
their offensive towards Gomel. On
August 19 they attacked the city, and within three days the Red Army had
retreated completely.

In certain areas of the Gomel Region
resistance to Nazi rule was especially persistent. In the Southern region of
the Pinsk swamps (Mozyr,
Kalinkovichi, Turov) military action began on July 6-10, 1941. Turov was defended
by frontier guards, regular units of the Red Army, sailors from the Dniepr
River fleet, civilian militia (Istrebitel’ny
batalion) and partisans. The Germans tried to capture it several times.
Firstly, they seized it on July 15 and held it until August 4, 1941. The second time, the Nazis took
the town on August 14, but by evening, they were again thrown out. On the
night of August 23, German warships (bronirovannyekatera) having sailed from Pinsk,
bombed Turov with incendiary shells. Neighboring villages - Ridcha, Sleptsy,
Chernichi were set on fire and Turov was seized.(6) Local
Soviet ruling bodies tried unsuccessfully to organize a defense with their
own forces. In the Buda-Koshelevo, Dobrush, Zhuravichi, and Uvarovichi districts
partisan detachments comprised of local residents withdrew along with parts
of the Red Army. In July 1941, police and state security employees in Mozyr
formed mobile groups for organized resistance. However, the Germans soon
forced them to flee. Members of these units were able to hide out in villages
with the assistance of local residents, and only after a year began to
organize partisan detachments.(7) In
the middle of September 1941, the Rechitsa Partisan Detachment dispersed.
Some of the partisans were killed in battle, while others went to the front
line. After Turov was seized, the partisans withdrew, along with the frontier
guards, to the right side of the Stviga
River . In September 1941, the
Turov Partisan Detachment merged with the Stolin Detachment and carried out
fighting operations in the districts of David-Gorodok and Turov until September 30, 1941, when it was
surrounded and defeated.(8)

Evacuation

The continuing success of the German
advance did not allow people to recognize the danger threatening them. Most
people were disoriented and many awaited a Red Army counteroffensive. By June 29, 1941, the Nazis had
already occupied Minsk, where the
local leadership had secretly fled on June
24, 1941 without announcing an evacuation. As a result, almost
100,000 Jews were captured by the German advance in Minsk,
where most were subsequently killed. The Nazis occupied Vitebsk
by July 11, 1941 and as a
result, about 20,000 out of 37,000 Jews were killed there. German forces
arrived in Mogilev on July 27, 1941 and out of 20,000
Jews, 10,000 managed to evacuate(9).

In this respect, the Jews of Gomel had
more favorable conditions. German forces did not arrive here in the first few
days, as they did in Western Poland, or weeks, as in Eastern
Belorussia, but almost
two months later. The defense of the city and the evacuation of industrial
enterprises at the beginning of August allowed many to escape to the East.
Around 40 major enterprises were evacuated from Gomel
and each train carrying industrial equipment also
took with it about 100 people. We have no knowledge of how many people were
killed en route by bombs, or how many died of hunger and disease. Theway
to their evacuation destinations was long - lasting from several weeks to
several months. (10)

By
August 19, 80,000 people of all nationalities left Gomel
and only about 4,000 Jews (9%) out of a prewar total of 44,000 were left.
Among the last towns of the Gomel Region, (within contemporary borders) to be
abandoned by the Red Army were Rechitsa on August 21, 1941, Mozyr on August 22, Turov on August 23,
and Khoiniki on August 25 (11).

The Jewish populations of the smaller
localities (shtetls and little towns) in the Gomel Region suffered more. Most
of them were far away from the main rail lines and roads. In these towns the
conditions were strikingly different from in industrial Gomel.
They were not bombed by air and received only a few refugees from the West,
who could have informed people about the Nazi treatment of the Jews.Younger
Jews moved to industrial centers or went off to study before the war, while
older people were used to living as in the “olden times.” Local
authorities did not take enough initiative, and the chances of the Jews in
these small towns surviving were much less. As a result, 98% of the Jewish
population was killed in Buda-Koshelevo, 90.4% in Parichi, 84% in Streshen,
71% in Korma, and 72% in Rogachev. But there were also exceptions - in Mozyr
only 23.7% of the Jewish population was killed, as there was a river port on
the Pripiat, and in Chechersk, 32.3% were killed, as the evacuation was
better organized. The defense of Turov was more stubborn - possession of the
small town went back and forth three times within two months between the Red
Army and the German forces. Jews attempted to leave by any means (by foot,
with carts inside the forests, and by barges and boats on the Pripiat and Dniepr
Rivers ) and almost 60% escaped.
On the other hand, in Rechitsa the opportunity to escape was missed, despite
the fact that the town was 60 kilometers from Gomel,
was on the railroad, and had a pier on the Dniepr. From July to August 1941,
Rechitsa lived through three “panics” when the Germans, according
to rumors, broke through the front. People ran, but returned after reaching
Parichi, Gomel, or Loev. As a
result, 48% of the Jewish community ended up in the Rechitsa ghetto, where
the Nazis shot them all in November
25, 1941 (12).

Beginning of
Occupation and Establishment of the Ghetto

Occupying authorities divided the Gomel
Region territory (in its administrative border of prewar Gomel
and Polesye Regions) into a severaldistricts. The first was made up
of eight parts (currently Gomel,
Buda-Koshelevo, Vetka, Dobrush, Terekhov, Uvarovichi, and Pechera districts).
All of them were subordinated to the rear of ArmyGroupCenter (tyl gruppy armii “Tsentr”).
The second, Southern part of the Gomel Region (currently Petrikov,
Zhitkovichi, Rechitsa, Svetlogorsk, Turov, Mozyr, and several others) was annexed
to the Reichkommissariat Ukraine, and was subordinate to the Zhitomer
general district (see
table 2).

After occupying a territory (small town,
city, or village), the Germans attempted to determine, precisely, who exactly
was Jewish? Usually, for this purpose, they arranged a registration of the
remaining Jewish population. In other cases, they issued special decrees. The
District Kommissar in Mozyr explained to the regional Kommissar in
Kalinkovichi, that it was necessary to consider anyone who was born to a
Jewish parent a Jew. It was more precisely determined that a Christian
baptism did not change matters, and baptizing Jews or half-Jews was
categorically forbidden.(13).

The next stage was separating the Jews
and establishing a ghetto. Twenty ghettos were established in the Gomel
region, in which no less than 21,000 people were imprisoned (see table 3).
There were four ghettos in the city of Gomel,
two in Zhlobin, two in Korma, and one in Rogachev, Bragin, Khoiniki,
Rechitsa, and several other places.(14)
In Gomel, the main ghetto was
located in the Monastyrek district, to which the Nazis drove the residents
(800 Jews) in the central part of town. The second ghetto was on Novo-Lyubenskaya
Street and housed 500 Jews, including 97 Jews
brought to Gomel from Loev. The
third ghetto was on Bykhovskaya Street.
Jews who lived in Novo-Belitsa, on the left bank of the Sozh
River , were placed in a different
ghetto. In September 1941, 200 ghetto residents were transferred to
Monastyrek. Ghetto prisoners were doomed, but a temporary exception was made
for the Jewish specialist workers.
The order of the SS cavalry brigade from September 28, 1941 stated, “It is obvious that
craftsmen may be temporarily preserved.”(15)

However, ghettos were not organized in each
place of the Gomel Region.In some places the Jewish population was
almost completely gone, and in others, the Jewish population was resettled to
larger villages. Ghettos were not created in Bragin, Vetka, Zhuravichi,
Komarin, Kopatkevichi, Loev, Narovlia, Svetilovichi, Uvarovichi, Terehov,
Turov, Khoiniki, and some other places. Regardless of this, men in these
places were sent to perform compulsory labor and were subject to daily
punishmentsand religious Jews were forced to have their beards shaved.
Wehrmacht soldiers sometimes informed Jews about plans of themass
shootings. In Turov, the Vainblat sisters, Chasya (15 years old) and Bronya
(13 years old) peeled potatoes at a German kitchen in exchange for food. Ilya
Goberman remembers that an Austrian soldier warned him that Germans were
annihilating all Jews. “Run, the faster, the better,” he used to
say.(16).

Methods of
Carrying out Aktions of
Annihilation

The destruction of a ghetto was planned
in advance and carried out as a carefully prepared operation. Usually it was
done in two stages. First, young and strong men were selected and led out of
the ghetto under the pretense that they were completing some kind of a job.
Then they were forced to dig a ditch and were killed. That is how the ghettos
were rid of people who were ready and able to resist. This included former
Party and Soviet-Komsomol workers, or simply healthy men, and sometimes
women. The active part of the ghetto was not large - young men of military
age were already in the army. The Germans carried out the first killings by
exerting force, using experienced guards and all necessary precautions (in Gomel,
Mozyr, Kalinkovichi, Korma). The Belorussian police took on a secondary role
in the first stage of the killings. The rest of the Jews were crushed and
deprived of the will to live- women, children, and the elderly- was killed
with the Nazis’ bare hands (in Dobrush, Chechersk, Zhitkovichi).
After a while, police, comprised of locals, and a minimal convoy, led these
remaining Jews out of the ghetto to their place of death. Such a tactic was successful (without much
exertion of force) in places where the liquidation of Jews was carried out
early September, October-November 1941. In winter 1942, a different tactic of
killing was used - raids (in Zhlobin, Petrikov, Streshin, Chechersk).

The role of the Belorussian police in
killing Jews became particularly noticeable during the second wave of
destruction, starting in February-March 1941. By that time, it had been
converted into a more organized force, while the Germans, experienced a
greater need for a personal cadre of executioners, as more people were needed
at the front. During the process of an action, local police forced Jews out
of their homes, convoyed them to a specific place, surrounded them with guns,
and pulled the triggers. After the mass shooting, the police actively
searched for the hiding Jews and were distinctive in their cruelty, compared
to the Germans (17).

Aktions of Annihilation

The Germans, in accordance with a famous
order issued by the commissar, carried out the killing of Jews. The
commissar’s position was made public because all Jews of all ages, of
both genders, and including the children, were subject to the
commissar’s orders. The Wehrmacht leaders had an order from the
Feldmarshal Reichenau, issued on October
10, 1941 to the Keitel directives, called “the Jews on
Newly Occupied Eastern Territories. The annihilation of the Jewish population
in the Gomel Oblast was carried out in several stages.

The first: Einsatzgruppen, the police sections of the
SS, Wehrmacht, and local collaborators, carried out the first stage as early
as summer 1941.

The second stage was marked by the concentration of the
Jewish population in the ghetto, for the purpose of annihilation (summer-fall
1941).

The third stage was the liquidation of the ghettos
(fall 1941-spring 1942).

The fourth stage - “clean
up”, was the search for and annihilation of survivors in the ghetto
(spring-beginning of summer 1942).

Einsatzgruppe “B” set the example of
“appeasement of conquered occupied territory” in Belorussia .
This was one of four Einsatzgruppen SS komands, created for the physical
annihilation of Jews, commissars, communists and soviet workers, and other
enemies of the Reich. The Einsatzgruppe “B” went through the
eastern regions of Belorussia
in two “waves” (summer-fall 1941 and winter 1941 - fall 1942),
carrying out mass shootings, during which thousands of Jews perished.(18) In August 1941 the first cavalry
brigade of the SS and parts of the 162nd and 252nd
divisions participated in a punitive operation combing the Pripyet marshes
for Jews. They went from west to east, through Pinsk,
Polesye, Gomelregions, and parts of the Minskregion. In places where they
encountered resistance, they destroyed entire villages. According to the
commander of the cavalry brigade, as a result of the punitive operation
13,788 Soviet citizens were shot (how many Jews and Non-Jews).(19)

German “statements of events”
reports include notes about killings of the specific groups of Jews in the
Gomel Region in September-November
1941. In August, the Nazis killed ten Jews in Gomel
“for diversionary acts” immediately after entering the city and
in October they killed 52 Jews who “tried to pass as Russians”.
In December 1941, Einsantzgruppen “B” reported shooting of 2365
Gomel Jews “for supporting partisans.” Aside from the
Einsatzgruppen, the “Kommandostab Reichsführer - SS”, police
formations (German “order police”- ORPO), the secret field police
(GFP), and the field Gendarmes and local commanders dealt with the Jews.(20)

Some of the Gomel Region Jews perished in prisons (in Bragin, Mozyr, Narovlia,
Parichi, Rechitsa, and Chechersk) and work camps (in Zhlobin, Kalinkovichi,
Lyuban, Choiniki, and Shchedrin). In Gomel,
many Jews died while performing peat-mining jobs in Kabanovka, where ghetto
and jail prisoners were transferred. In addition to that, several hundred
Gomel Jews perished in labor camps near Gomel
(21).

The pretexts, under which the Nazis and
their collaborators gathered the Jews before aktions, did not vary. These were usually orders to register or
to resettle, announcements of new living conditions on occupied territories,
etc. On September 20, 1941,
in Kalinkovichi, a sign was hung stating that all Jews had to resettle to a
permanent place of residence on Dachnaya Street.
At the same time, four Gestapo officers searched for a place to carry out a
mass aktion. They chose a railroad
transfer location to Dudichi, 1.5 kilometers from the city. On September 22, 700 Jews were driven
there on twelve commercial vehicles and shot.(22)
In Petrikov, the Nazis and their collaborators arrived on motorboats and
cutters, by way of the Pripyet River .
They ordered the local residents to paint crosses on their houses with chalk.
Then they began to deal with the Jews, who they forced into the water and
shot (more than 300 people). On the next day, they looked for surviving Jews
in houses and once they found the Jews, they killed them right on the street.(23)In Koptsevichi, 25 women, children, and
elderly people, were gathered and put in automobiles, under the pretext that
they would be taken to an interrogation in Petrikov. But they never made it
to Petrikov, instead they were taken to the Zheleznitsa forest and shot.(24)

From August 1941 to February 1942,
thousands of Jews perished during uncoordinated aktions in places where ghettos did not exist: Bragin, Vetka,
Zhitkovichi, Komarin, Kopatkevichi, Krasnoe, Pirki, Poddobrianka, Lelchitsy,
Narovlia, and many other places. By the present time, documented proof of the
death of 11,705 Jews, from 53 places in the contemporary Gomel Oblast has
been found(not final), but it does not appear final (see table
4).

Killings were accompanied by torture and
sadism. On September 15, 1941,
in the Boyanov village of the Petrikov district, the offenders gouged out
Lazar Rasovski’s eyes, cut his chest open with a dagger, and bashed his
head.(25) In Gorval, Chaya Shpilevsky
was tied to a motorcycle and forced to run, while an old man was lowered into
a well on a rope and taken back out.26
33 Gorval Jews were shot with rupturing (“dum-dum”) bullets. In
Rechitsa, the Germans forced Judka Smilovitsky (born in 1901) into a sleigh
(not even a cart - L.S.), in place of horses, while his wife,
Chaya (born in 1906) was forced to hit her husband with a whip. When she
refused, Judka was killed and Chaya was sent to jail. On the next day, Chaya’s son,
Levushka (born in 1937), attempted to hand his mother a bundle of food
through a fence and was shot by a guard from a tower. Basya Smilovitsky (born
in 1872) was forced into the cellar of a house on Komsomolskaya
Street, where for several days, the Germans
watched as she was dying.27

Call for
Retribution

During aktions of annihilation, there were people who in the face of
death did not lose their composure. They cursed the Nazis and their
collaborators, pledged revenge, expressed their belief in the victory of the
Red Army, and announced that their husbands, fathers, and brothers would not
leave the perpetrators of their death without punishment. On September 23, 1941, in
Kalinkovichi, an unknown 30-year-old man yelled: “You will kill us, but
the Soviet power will live on!”28
In Lelchitsy, Malka Margolin from Turov, whose husband Meishke was at the
front, took out a handkerchief from her bosom and yelled: “You
won’t shoot everyone, our husbands will pay you back for us!”
before being shot. Meishke and his brother, Itsl Margolin, were killed in
battleagainst (in the front in the ranks of Soviet Army) the Nazis.29 In Rechitsa, during the November 25, 1941
shooting, Khava-Seina Rudnitsky announced, “Stalin will win!” and
Boris Smilovitsky yelled: “Bandits, fascists, you shed our blood, but
the Red Army will still win and pay you back for us!”30

Examples of similar behavior, which were
marked in other places, are evidence of the Jewish people’s strength
and refute the myth of Jewish obedience and lack of desire to resist. Being
put in a hopeless situation, they did not want to accept the Nazi crimes, and
they expressed their attitudes towards their killers.

Establishment
and Duration of the Ghettos

Most of the ghettos in the Gomel Region
were established during the first two months of the German occupation
(August-October 1941). Out of the 20 ghettos, which were located in 15separate
places of the Region, 13 ghettos were created in September, while the
remaining seven ghettos were created between October and November 1941.31 The Nazis brought Jews to the biggest
ghettos (Gomel, Mozyr, Rogachev,
Rechitsa, Zhlobin) from the entire region. All
refugees, (Jews and non-Jews) were instructed to return to their place of the
permanent residence. The Germanauthorities made it obligatory to
report any unknown persons and strict punishments were threatened for hiding
strangers. Resettlement to the ghetto usually lasted several days. Everyone
had got by as best they could. Jews were allowed to bring only what they
could carry in their hands to their new place.

In Mozyr, Jews (about 237 people) were
settled on Romashov Rov Street, and after a little while, several families
and singles were transferred there from small towns such as Skrigalov,
Kopatkevichi, the Prudok and Glinishche villages, and Kaments village
council, as well as from Elsk, Petrikov, Narovlia, Sloboda, Meleshkovichi,
Mikhalok, Yurevichi, Ogorodniki, Zapolye, and Red’ki. In sum, on January 1, 1942, 433 people,
including those newly arrived, found themselves in the Mozyr ghetto.32

The ghettos in the Gomel Region were
different greatly from those in other regions of Belorussia .
Most importantly, they served as a place to isolate Jews and as points of
assembly for fast annihilation. For this reason, there were no long-lasting
programs of any sort, medical services and sanitary controls were absent. In
this regard, the Gomel ghetto,
more than other ghettos in Belorussia ,
resembled a concentration camp. The most short-lived turned out to be the
ghetto in Kalinkovichi, which existed for only two days from September 20 to September 22, 1941. In
Buda-Koshelevo, Dobrush, Gorodets, and Parichi, the ghettos lasted two
months, in Gomel, Korma, and
Rechitsa, they lasted three months; and in Rogachev, Chechersk, and Mozyr,
they lasted four months. Longer-lasting ghettos (seven to eight months)
turned out to be in Zhlobin, Petrikov, and Streshin - they existed from
September 1941 until April 1942. The ghetto prisoners were gradually divided
into the category "needed" and "useless". Hunger and
disease took their toll as well.

Locations of the Ghettos

Most ghettos were located in the old parts
of the respective cities, towns and villages where one or several streets
were designated for the ghetto, and all the non-Jews
were evicted. In Gomel, the four
ghettos were located on Bikhovski, Monastyrek, Novo-Lynbenski, and
Novo-Belitsa streets. In Korma town, the ghettos were arranged in two places
- on Abatyrov Street and Shkolnaya Street, while in Petrikov, the ghetto was
on Volodarski Street and when there were less Jews, buildings that were unfit
for living were used. In Zhlobin, one ghetto was established on the premises
of a former National House, while the other ghetto was established on Pervomayskaya
Street. The ghetto in Rechitsa functioned on the
premises of a two-story schoolhouse in the factory district on Frunze
Street, behind the town jailhouse. In Rogachev,
Jews were settled in the basement of a former military warehouse and from
there they were sent daily to remove rocks and bricks and transport sand and
water.

The Nazis forced the Jews to wear
distinguishing symbols. These were mostly yellow or white circles, or more
rarely six sided stars (magendovids).
In the fall of 1941, the Mozyr Gebietskommissar issued an order indicating
that every Jew or “mixed person” (half-blooded Jew who has a Jewish
parent) was obligated to wear a yellow piece of material, the size of a palm,
on their back and front. The distinguishing sign had to be sewed on in such a
fashion that it would be clearly seen even when the top layer of clothing was
taken off. Local citizens called these orders Lenin and Stalin orders. To our
mind, in such way they (local citizens) stressed that the Soviet power went
away for ever, and Jews as the former most supporters of that (Soviet) rule
were out of their benefits and advantages. In response to refusal to wear
these yellow patches, Jews were heavily fined, and in cases of repeated
offenses they could also be shot. In most places, distinctive symbols for
Jews were introduced even before ghettos were established.33

All ghettos in the Gomel Region were guarded. To leave the ghettos
without special permission was prohibited and subjected to severe
punishments. Exchanging food and other goods, talking to others and passing
news or other information was not allowed. Transgressors were beaten, starved
and sent to perform penal jobs. Often these cruel methods were carried out in
public, in front of other people. Jews could be killed with impunity for any
crime. Exit from the ghetto was allowed only for work or to transport people
who died to the cemetery when the burial squad was absent. The goals were
strict isolation, restricting access to information, and to prevent escape
from the ghetto. For voluntary absence, all residents of a house and all
family members would be punished – sometimes with death.

Only a few Jewish craftsmen and
specialists were allowed to live outside the ghetto with their families if
they had special permission. This category of Jews was under Belorussian
supervision and the Belorussians were personally responsible for them. There
were no large ghettos inthe
Gomel Region in general. The largest ones were in Rechitsa (3,500 people) and
Rogachev (3,300). The next largest were in Parichi (1,700) and Mozyr (1,500).
In some towns, several ghettos existed simultaneously. In Zhlobin, two
ghettos held 1,200 people, in Gomel,
four ghettos held 4,000 people, and in Korma, two ghettos held 700 people.
The rest of the ghettos had several hundred prisoners - Chechersk had 432,
Streshen - 448, and Buda-Koshelevo - 485. The smallest ghetto was apparently
in Dobrush - it had 103 people, while information about the number of ghetto
prisoners in the small village of Gorodets
of the Rogachev region has notpreserved (see table 3)

Gender and Age
Composition of Ghetto Prisoners

An
exceptionally large number women and children were among the captive
population on Nazi-occupied Gomel Region
territory. A significant majority of Jews who ended up in the ghetto were
burdened by large families, or were elderly or ill. Men of drafting age and
women between the ages of 20 and 40 were mostly absent in the ghettos. There
were also less people who had the illusion that the Germans were a
“cultured nation”, who in 1918 did not harm the Jews and even
defended them from Russian pogromshchiks. In the Mozyr ghetto, there
were 164, or 69%, women, young ladies, and girls out of a total 273 people,
and children of both genders under the age of 16 numbered 88 people, or 37%.
Elderly people of 70-75 years of age or older constituted 10% of the population,
60-70 year olds constituted 13%, 40-60 year olds constituted 20%, and 17-39
year olds constituted 21% (both male and female). Among the Jews in
Skrigalov, Kopatkevichi, Elsk, Petrikov, Narovlia, and Yurevichi, children
under the age of 14 constituted 30.6% of the population. In fact, younger
people (born in 1920-1923) were almost completely absent (these places did
not have ghettos).34

Jewish
Councils (Judenrats)

The role of internal administration in
the ghettos was filled by Jewish Councils or committees, known in the West as
“Judenrats.” The
Einsatzgruppen SS and German military administration actively participated in
the organization of the Jewish Councils. ArmyGroupCenterordered on July 13, 1941
that for settlements of up to 10,000 Jews 12 people had to serve on the
Jewish Council (Judenrat) and if
there were more than 10,000 Jews, then 24 people had to serve. More
authoritative Jews were usually appointed to the Council by Germans. Often
these were members of the intelligentsia and influential people who were
personalresponsible for all incidents in the Jewish community. In
1941, this included a commercial worker in Minsk,
a teacher in Vitebsk, and an
engineer in Mogilev. These people
were either chosen by the ghetto prisoners themselves or appointed by the
Germans. However, in either case, there was little they could do to save the
Jews.

In the Gomel Region, Jewish Councils first appeared in August 1941, later than
in the rest of the occupied territory. Their members were responsible with
their life for carrying out all the orders of the occupying authorities. The Judenrat consisted only of men (three
to twelve people). If for some reason a member of the Jewish
(“Yid”) Council left, then somebody else had to immediately
replace him. In Mozyr, twelve people were assigned to the Jewish Council.
Their chairman was Eisha Izrailovich Koffman (born in 1891) and his deputy
was Iosif Yankelevich Berdichevski (born in 1890). The Judenrat was assigned the functions to resettle ghetto prisoners,
keeping internal order, and make contacts with occupying authorities. The
members of the Jewish Councils essentially became hostages of the Nazis.35

In the districts of the Gomel Region which ended up in the military
administration zone, the functions, composition, and responsibilities of the
Jewish Councils were determined more precisely than in the area under civil
administration. There is only a limited amount of information on the Jewish
Councils - the sources are scarce and contradictory. Most witnesses who have
survived the Nazi genocide reluctantly recall their activities. This may be
explained in various ways: as disgraceful bargaining for power or shame for
any sort of “collaboration” with the occupiers, even as a means
of survival. It is hard to draw the line between “collaborating”
and “not collaborating”, with regard to the Judenrat. To our mind, most of the Judenrats did not collaborate with Nazis and were guided by two
main ideas: the short-term goal was to alleviate living conditions (oblegchit’
zhizn’ v getto) in the ghetto while the main goal was to survive (36).

A Jewish monitor was appointed in some
places where a Judenrat did not
exist. This assignment was made upon the recommendation of a Belorussian
policeman who chose a monitor from among those Jews with influence, or Jews
who were obedient, and who could speak German. Jewish monitors did not have
their own ruling organs (coworkers with permanent or temporary assignment).
The Jewish monitor in Rechitsa was a former miller, while six monitors were
appointed in Turov- four Belorussians and two Jews. A Jewish police, as a
special auxiliary detachment under the command of the Council, was
unnecessary. The idea of a “Jewish policeman” had a double
meaning and the police behaved in different ways. The composition of the
Jewish police was heterogeneous and the motivations they had for agreeing to
do this work differed significantly. In place of weapons, they had sticks and
lashes. In many ghettos, there was simply nobody to select a Jewish police
force from. Most men were mobilized by the Red Army or killed by the Nazis
during the summer months of 1941, and older people, women, and children could
not serve in the police force. The end result was the same for everyone -
despite the promises that some would be spared - all were killed.

The selection of monitors and
registration in the ghetto were viewed as ordinary events, evoking no
suspicion. The registration was carried out under the pretext of helping Jews
find housing and work, resettlement to new places, collection of monetary
contributions, distribution of food, etc. In Mozyr, Yosif Berdichevski
compiled a list of Jews on the orders of the town’s authorities, and in
Rechitsa, Malenkovich did the same. As it turns out, this information was
gathered in preparation for future actions of annihilation, or as a means of
gathering Jews immediately before killing them. On September 20, 1941, Jews in Kalinkovihi were
ordered to register in a building on Lenin Street
(more than 700 people), and in two days, all of them were shot.37 On September 13, 1941, the Jews of Bragin were ordered to
gather in a school for the purposes of selecting a monitor and his deputy,
but when 300 Jews came at the indicated time the school they were surrounded
by Germans and closed.After that, Jews were led out in groups to the
edge of the village and shot.38 On December 1, 1941, six German
officers came to Vetka from Gomel
and demanded that the commandant hold a registration of Jews, threatening to
kill those who refused to be registered.Jews who came to the
registration (360 people) were locked up in a horse stable and on December 3,
they were brought to a hoist, force to lie down in rows in a ditch, and were
shot, point blank with automatic weapons.39

Compulsory Labor

Ghettos in the Gomel Region, unlike the majority of ghettos in
the Western regions of Belorussia ,
Poland , and Lithuania ,
did not have an economic purpose. Here, Jews were occasionally sent to do
work necessary for the survival of the city, region, or German military. Sometimes the work involved procurement of
fuel, (in Gomel, Rechitsa, and
Mozyr), repair or construction jobs (in Zhlobin, Rogachev, and Chechersk), or
cleaning up of the area. The age of Jews subjected to work duty was
stipulated by various German instructions. Usually, this meant 16-55 years of
age for men and 17-50 years of age for women. However, these rules were not
followed in practice. Often Jews were used to perform jobs which were
incidental in nature: sawing firewood, rooting out stumps, cleaning up
streets and landfills, burying dead bodies, and gathering mines, shells, and
bombs that failed to explode. In Rogachev Jews used their hands to dig out
garbage from dumpsters, which had “only for Germans” written on them.
In Gomel, Kalinkovichi, and
Rechitsa, Jews worked at railroad stations washing wagons, loading and
unloading trains, carrying sleepers, and cleaning out entrances, roads, and
aerodromes.40

During work, Jews were beaten with
sticks and lashes and the weak and ill were shot. In Kalinkovichi, the elderly were forced to
wash cars. One old Jew (Peisakhovich)
could not lift his bucket of water because he was too weak. A German ran up
to him, kicked over the bucket of water, grabbed a flaming torch from another
soldier, and lit Peisakhovich’s beard on fire. He did not allow anyone
to put the fire out. Soviet POWs were brought in to clean up the dead bodies.
All elderly people and children living in the ghetto worked, even though
almost half of them were handicapped. Children were forced to wash the
windows in the police and commandant’s office, carry water, clean horse
stables, wash cars and motorcycles, and clear snow off the roads. Refusal to
go to work had the potential of turning into a tragedy. In Gomel,
in September 1941, Germans promised to punish similar wrongdoings by shooting
one out of every five ghetto prisoners.41

Jews were purposely not allowed to work
according to their professions. People of intellectual work, members of the
intelligentsia, teachers, doctors, and engineers were sent to perform the
most demanding physical work. Often they were forced to do particularly
degrading and mindless work: catching flies at the commandant’s office
(in Chechersk), carrying carts of water, brick, firewood, and garbage from
one place to another, and digging up and filling in ditches,
(Petrikov, Streshin, and Rogachev).42
The Germans resorted to Jewish specialist labor only in the case of
necessity. In Zhitkovichi in October and November 1941 Jewish tailors were
forced to sew uniforms for German soldiers and clothes and shoes were taken
off the bodies of Jews who were killed.43

Composition of
Police

In Eastern Belorussia,
unlike in Lithuania
or Ukraine
and some regions of Western Belarus, the German invasion
was not accompanied by mass killings of Jews. However, this does not mean
that there was an absence of incentives to collaborate with the occupiers in
the annihilation of Jews.44 The
genocide in Belarus
would never have been on such a massive scale if the local population had not
participated in the killings. German authorities had their own impressions of
Belorussians as “servants and workers” and “ideal objects
of exploitation”. In Berlin,
the Nazi authorities planned to make Belorussia
a destination for transports of undesirable Non-Jews from the Baltics and Poland
(most from Germany
and Austria !).45

The mobilization of Belorussians and
Russians, Ukrainians, and Poles in support of the “Final Solution of
the Jewish problem” was pivotal to Nazi plans. First of all, it
supported thesis that Jews arethe enemy of all nations. Secondly, it
created a hostile environment in which Jews were unable to hide, so that they
were doomed. Thirdly, it helped in having practical help in carrying out
“Actions of annihilation” and exposing survivors during
“clean ups” (repeated searches).46

In August- September 1941, a variety of
different police formations, including Gestapo/SD (security service), local
civilian police, secret field police, field Gendarmerie, Schutzpolizei
(guarding police), and Wachtpolizei (guarding command under the military
commandants) were organized in the cities and villages of the Gomel Region.47 In Rechitsa, a police district was opened
in the former home of doctor Zholkver on Vokzalnaya
Street, and Korzhewski, former accountant at the
bread factory, became the chief of police. The police administration was
placed in the former District Committee building on Soviet
Street, and Chalowski was assigned as the
chief’s aid.48 Mozyr became the
center of the Mozyr Gebitskommisarriat, which was subordinate to the
Reichskommisarriat “ Ukraine ”
in Zhitomer. Ivan Podberezny, former head of the Elsk regional NKVD office,
was assigned as the commander of the town police and about 40 local policemen
aided him.49

In Turov, the police district (36
people) was placed in the building of the former military commandant of the
border detachment. The former teacher of the agricultural school, Maxim Bruy,
nicknamed “goat” for his high-pitched voice, became the first
police chief. Bruy “created much trouble” and turned in
unsatisfying (unpleased) people to the German authorities “without
looking back”.50 The head of
Turov police was Akulich, who formerly served in the NKVD of Western
Belorussia. After him, the police office in the town was headed by Petr Kreso
(who fled in 1944 during the German retreat) and the police chiefs were
Avakum Strakh and Petro Syromakho.Besides them, collaborationists from Stolin and David-Gorodok helped
the Nazis in Turov. In Rogachev, the head of police was Sidorenko, and in Gomel
it was the former colonel of the Red Army, Kardakov, and in Khoiniki, it was
Demyanenko (51).

The active participation of the
Belorussian police in actions against the Jews, and in some instances their displays
of particular cruelty can be explained by the following: 1.) The striving to
prove their loyalty to the Nazis, 2.) Nazi brainwashing, 3.) Anti-Semitism,
4.) To earn material incentives. Among the police were former neighbors,
acquaintances, relatives of Jews and people who were considered friends
before the war. However, this did not always benefit the victims. In Parichi,
a local resident I. Mints killed his wife, Friedl Nisman, and two kids,
before going off to serve the police.52
In the village of Davidovka,
Miriam Papernaya’s mother in law gave her over to the Germans. In the village
of Urovichi in the Kalinkovichi
district, Vasili Prishchepa was serving in the police and hid his wife and
kids during the liquidation of the ghetto. But in return for saving them, he
started to incline his stepdaughter towards cohabitation. When his wife,
Sima, protested, he brought her and the stepdaughter out of the hiding place
and shot them both. Then he got drunk, ran home, grabbed his own children,
and started screaming, “Follow me, little kikes, and you will be killed
too!” Vasili’s mother,
Akulina, saved her grandchildren (53).

The Belorussian police (50,000 people for
all of Belarus ,
in 1941-1944)54 mostly fulfilled the
demands of the occupying authorities. Volunteers from “Belorussian
National Self-Help”, “Union of Belorussian Youths”, and the
“Belorussian Border Defense”, who took on the Nazi doctrine of
“The Final Solution” to the Jewish Question, also assisted the
police.55 The Nazis recruited other
policemen from Ukraine
and the Baltics, who they considered more reliable for the annihilation of
Jews. According to these reasons, German monetary remuneration (salary, per
diem allowance, and premiums) was higher for Lithuanian and Latvian policemen
than for Ukrainian policemen and Belorussians received the least.

Living
Conditions in the Ghetto

Incredible overcrowding, unsanitary
conditions, absence of medical assistance, and a shortage of simple living
needs were typical for the majority of ghettos. Seven to twenty people had to
live in one room of 20 square meters in size. People had almost no
possessions and this made it easier to settle in the crowded conditions. The
amount of ghetto prisoners quickly diminished due to illness, transfer of
jobs, and killings. Many people looked for space in subsidiary locations-
cellars, attics, sheds and basements. In the ghetto on the “Progress of
the Rogachev region” farm, three-leveled plank beds and a stove were
built. There was no linen, or cooking utensils, and cooking had to be done at
a campfire. In Rogachev and Streshin, people in the ghetto lived in small
houses. At night, many could not even lie down and slept sitting up and if
former tenants left their beds, then two or three people slept on the bed,
and the same number slept under the bed. For that reason people often did not
undress.

Germans did not feed the Jews in the
ghetto and did not pay them for participating in compulsory labor. According
to survivors’ accounts, hunger tortured people more than fear. Most
people got used tofear and it became duller, but it was impossible to
get used to hunger - people wanted to eat even in their sleep. The most
valued products were flour and fat. There were no animals, domesticated
birds, dogs, or cats in the ghetto.Nobody ate meat or fruit but sometimes there were carrots, potatoes,
or cabbage. Most people made vegetable soup. Some used leftover scraps from
cafeterias. They gathered cooked bones from German military kitchens, or
picked them out of garbage dumpsters. They made fat out of these bones, or
cooked a jelly-like substance that was used in food or sold.

Survival was possible only on account of
people’s own saved up possessions, or barter and help from the
Belarussians and other non-Jews’ side. Despite the fact that this help
was substantial, it must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Local
residents usually aided “their own” Jews- those who were married
to Belorussians, or those who were neighbors to Belorussians in villages-
without expecting anything in return. But “their own” Jews made
up the minority of those contained in the ghetto. The rest of the people
could only count on bartering, which was prohibited. Bartering required good
organization and trust, and in some cases Jews had to share their goods with
policemen who allowed them to barter.56

Jewish Property

After the German forces occupied civilian
areas, all property belonging to the Jews now became the property of the
Reich.57 However, even before that,
homes that were left by evacuated Jews were invaded more often than homes of
non-Jews. The Nazis encouraged the locals to rob Jews. They announced that
the “kikes” were exploiters of Belorussians and that they have a
right to take back their own possessions. As a result of military activity,
many were left without a roof over their heads, and the Nazis offered
Belorussians and Russians to occupy Jewish homes- those who served the Nazis
were given priority.

Ghetto residents were subjected to
monetary contributions. With the threat of shooting hostages, the Nazis
collected wedding rings, gold and silver objects, household and bathroom
soap, bed linens, towels, clothes and other things. In September 1941, in the
Gomel ghetto, German soldiers
went in groups, or on their own, on “excursions” and picked out
things they liked, while the Belorussian police followed their examples.58 In November 1941, in Rogachev, the SS
officers who arrived to liquidate the ghetto, undressed and searched the
Jews, and beat them with sticks and lashes. Any valuables and monetary items
that were found were thrown in a big bin and after that all Jews were forced
into the basement of a big concrete building, and were shot the next morning.59 On December 3, 1941, in Vetka, the Germans drove eight
cars full of Jewish possessions to Gomel,
and only after that they began the shootings.60

The Nazis persecuted non-Jews who agreed
to keep belongings safe for Jews. However, in most cases, Jewish possessions
did not end up in the hands of Belorussians and Russians for safekeeping, but
as payment for hiding them, in exchange for food, and finally, simply as a
result of robbery. Local residents prepared for Aktions in advance, after finding out about them from relatives
who served the Nazis when they were on duty in the ghetto territory. After
liquidating Jews, more valuable objects were taken by Germans and policemen.
The ghetto was no longer surrounded, and a crowd of marauders broke in,
entered homes and searched dead bodies, took off their shoes and clothes,
tore off gold crowns on their teeth, and looked for valuables such as money
and watches. They took objects and foodstuffs, pilfered furniture, and broke
apart homes and carried out anything that might be useful - doors, frames,
and windows. After that, blocks where Jews only recently used to live
resembled only the skeletons of buildings. The police guarded the possessions
of Jews who were still left in the ghetto. They sold the belongings of Jews
who were killed to thelocal population. The clothes of the dead were
sent to laundries and after that to be repaired in tailor shops, before being
sold.61

Cover-up of
Crime Traces

In spring 1942, in accordance with
Reichsfuhrer-SS Himmler’s orders, special detachments known as
“Sondercommand 1005” were created under the command of
Standartenfuhrer, Paul Blobel. They were assigned to dig up graves, burn
cadavers, and find other means for hiding places of mass burials.62 From 1942 to 1943, similar activities
were carried out in the Gomel Oblast. In Spring 1942, a ditch (holding 3,000
dead bodies) was eroded by water in Rogachev and some of the dead bodies
ended up in the Drut’ River. The Germans mobilized the locals to fish
out the bodies with boat hooks and bury them again. In December 1943, before
the retreat from the city, spread out human remains, skeletons, and bones
were dug up and placed in stacks, alternating between rows of logs. These
stacks were doused with kerosene and resin and burnt- the fires burned for
three days. The Germans surrounded them and did not let anyone come close.
Analogous cases were taken in Parichi, Gomel,
and Narovlia.63 During the liberation of Mozyr, in June
1944, it was determined that 18 graves at the Jewish cemetery (960-1000 dead
bodies). In addition to it, five graves were found in the yard of the SD
prison on Pushkin Street (275 dead bodies), four graves - on the Romashov Rov
Ravine (850 dead bodies), two graves - on the road from Mozyr to the Bobry
village of the Mozyr region. All of them did not have hills, signs, or other
symbols of burial on their graves.64
However, these aktions did not reach their aim as traces of Nazi crimes have
been established and proven.

Attitudes Toward Genocide

The local population had knowledge of the
genocide of Jews, regardless of the Nazi authorities’ attempts at
hiding aktions of annihilation from
strangers. Special orders forbade the gathering of viewers during mass
punishments,65 mass shootings outside
of city borders, digging out and burning of dead bodies.66 People found out about the killings from
those who the Nazis forced to bury dead bodies, from accidental witnesses,
and from stories of policemen who participated in the division of Jewish
possessions.

The majority of local residents turned
away from the Jews. First of all, from fear- for hiding Jews an entire family
was liable to be killed. Traditional anti-Semitism played its role as well-
locals turned in Jews who were their neighbors, refugees from the ghetto, but
they hid prisoners of war and those who were surrounded by the Nazis during
battle. They expected a material reward for saving Jews, when they saved
Russians “for nothing”. The cruelty of repressions during 24
years of Soviet power, which dulled feelings of compassion and mercy, also
influenced the locals’ attitudes. The Belorussians remembered examples
of “Kike commissars” and the disproportional numbers of Jews
participating in the Revolution, collectivization, and in Soviet and Party
organs. Many local citizens were not as apprehensive about the arrival of the
Germans as they were about military action. The Germans promised to return
private property and to abolish the Kolkhoz. The new authorities demanded
respect and subordination, and the Jews were denounced as enemiesto
the new regime.

Change created the most burdensome
impressions on the Jews. They felt that the world turned away from them and
that everyone - Germans, Belorussians, and Russians united together against
them. This demoralized the Jews and for many, the desire to flee or to seek help
from their neighbors disappeared. Looking for help among the Christians was
dangerous. Fleeing to the forests was not an option because they did not know
anyone there. There were almost no partisans from 1941 to the beginning of
1942, and before spring 1942, the partisans’ position was desperate.
Partisan detachments that were uncoordinated and few in numbers found refuge
in places that were difficult to access. They did not exploit the support of
the population, did not possess unnecessary force, means of communication, or
fire. The partisans often viewed Jews as a burden. Elderly people, women,
children, ill and emaciated people, were not adapt to life in the forests,
and held the partisans back. Jews were sometimes seen as German spies because
of the unlikelihood of survival, partisans figured they were sent to poison
their well and to liquidate partisan commanders.67

The widening of the genocide scalein
1942, forced many Belorussians to reevaluate their attitudes towards the
occupying authorities. The annihilation of the Jews, including half-blooded
Jews, and non-Jewish spouses, by the Nazis, made the partisans wonder: who
will be next, after the Jews? This contributed to the horrific Nazi actions
of retribution for assisting partisans. During the aktions, entire Belorussian villages, as well as their residents
were annihilated. This all resulted in a negative reaction of local residents
to the mass killing of Jews. Some Belorussians helped Jews and risked their
life; however, the number of rescued does not compare with the number of Jews
who were turned over into the hands of the Nazis.68

Conclusion

Belorussia
suffered more than other republics of the USSR during the war years. The
politics of peaceful citizens were worked out in considerable detail, but it
was still not customary to speak about victims among the Jews.69 It was thought that Belorussia
lost so many Belorussians, so speaking of the Jewish genocide separately did
not stick. The death of Soviet Jews was seen only in the light of the resistance
of the whole USSR against Germany, and the term “genocide” was
not used in the first 15 years after the end of World War II. The Gomel
Region still remains one of the least studied Holocaust regions of
Belorussia.

The material presented above allows us to
see the common and distinctive elements of the Nazi genocide in Gomel Region:

Common Elements

-Physical liquidation of the Jewish population was the
main part of the Nazi occupying politics during the German-Soviet war,

-Gomel Region
turned out to be the part of Eastern Belorussia where the mechanism of
general annihilation of the Jews was tried for the first time. The
Einsatzgruppe “B”, one of the four Einsatzgruppen SS, went
through the region in two main waves, summer through fall 1941, and winter
through spring 1941-1942,

-Main pretext of annihilating the Jews was the
“solicitation” of Eastern Jews (in Gomel, Mogilev, Minsk, and
Vitebsk Regions), who, according to
the Nazis, were more imbued by the Communist influence, and capable to
resistance,

-Invasion was not accompanied by large massacres of
Jews, similar to the ones which occurred in Lithuania, Western Ukraine, some
regions of Western Belorussia, but regardless of that, the non-Jewish part of
the population collaborated with the Nazis in annihilating the Jews,

- As in all other
Belorussian Regions, not only those
who opposed Soviet rule- the repressed and jailed - but also those who were
its functionaries - the Communists, NKVD workers, and Red Army officers,
served in the police force.

-Ghettos were created for
the Jews who survived the first wave of annihilation in the Gomel Region. These ghettos had nothing in
common with other European ghettos - in Poland and the Baltics (there was an
absence of cultural, religious, and medical activities, schools,
social-welfare organizations, and illegal economic activities.)

-Living conditions in the
ghetto- overcrowding, insanitation, absence of medical assistance, and a
paucity of simple everyday necessities. Hunger and disease were typical, and
were considered as “natural” diminution of ghetto prisoners.

-Nazi anti-Semitic
propaganda was accepted and the local population responded to it by denying
Jews refuge and by turning them in and killing them.

-Jewish property was
appropriated by occupying authorities, and became subject to looting by the
police and local residents.

The attitude toward the genocide of Jews (among the
civilian population, partisans, and Soviet authorities), still remains a
taboo topic. The authorities in contemporary Belorussia have not admitted
their partial fault in the genocide of the Jews on the

Republic’s territory
during the war years. Belorussian history denies that the policy of genocide
was first and foremost targeted at the Jews. It is impossible to dispute this
fact because the Nazis never killed Belorussians for ethnic distinctions
(there were only aktions of
retribution, to frighten people, or in response for violating orders).

Distinctive Factors

--
Gomel Region - the smallest
territory out of all the Belorussian regions
(it was 15,800 square kilometers) had the fourth largest Jewish population
(70,000 people) after the much larger Minsk, Mogilev, and Vitebsk regions.

-- Gomel Region was the last to be occupied at the end of August 1941. The
Jewish part of the population had fewerillusions regarding the treatment of the Germans, as the
“civilized” nation of 1918, incapable of offending the Jews.
Despite all of the obstacles and misinformation, a considerable number of
Jews was able to evacuate or flee during the first days of war.

-- Majority of evacuated Jews turned
out to be residents of towns; many worked at industrial enterprises, which
were evacuated; they were particularly independent and this allowed them to
accurately weigh the dangers, which the Nazis kept secret.

--
Most of the loss was sustained by small, non-industrial towns and shtetls and
villages of the Gomel Region - the
Jews of “yesterday,” who had preserved their traditional culture,
but were not greatly affected by the “fracture” of the 1920's and
1930's, they were less politicized and independent. The villages were located
far from the roads, they were not raided from the air, there were no refugees
from Western Belorussia, and their population was mostly elderly because the
young had migrated to big cities.

--Ghettos in the Gomel region served as places to isolate
the Jews, and as points of gathering Jews for the purpose of quickly
annihilating them. For this reason,
there were no long-lasting programs here, there were no medical services or
sanitary controls, the ghetto prisoners were responsible for obtaining their
own food, and in this regard, the ghettos here were more like
“Concentration Ghettos” (in German, “Sammelghettos”)
than ghettos in other regions of the republic.

--
There were no large ghettos in the Gomel Region, the biggest ghettos were in
Rechitsa (3,500 people) and Rogachev (3,300).

--
Regimen of isolation in the Gomel Region ghettos was more
strict- they were all guarded; only certain specialists were allowed
to live outside the ghetto borders with special permission and supervision by
the Belorussian police.

-- Most of the ghetto residents were women and children (about 60%),
as well as elderly people. There were almost no healthy and strong men or
women; all of the men of age left for the army while others evacuated with
industrial enterprises or fled on their own.

-- There were no traditional Judenrats
(Jewish Councils), or even anything similar to them (as in Minsk, Mogilev, or
Vitebsk), with an operation of workers and a clear division of
responsibilities. The durations of the Judenrats’
existence were very limited, and there were a lot more Jewish monitors in the
ghetto who acted as mediators between the ghetto prisoners and the German
administration.

-- The Gomel Region ghettos did not have economic goals, unlike
ghettos in most regions of Western Belorussia, Poland, and Lithuania. Jews
were rarely sent to work, and when they did work, they performed tasks, which
were necessary for the survival of the city, region, or German army. Most
work assignments were incidental in nature- preparing firewood for heat,
construction and reconstruction, or cleanup of the territory- this likely
proved the planned annihilation of ghetto prisoners.

-- Most ghetto prisoners were equal in their misfortune,
they were not antagonistic, which was characteristic for Jews of the
“West” and “East”.

All in all,
during the years of occupation, the total losses of the Jewish population in
the Gomel Region according to incomplete data, reached 32,633 people. Out of
these people, a total of 20,928 people perished as a result of aktions of annihilation in the 20
ghettos established in 15 residential points, and 11,705 people died in residential
points outside of the ghetto. In sum, from 1941 to 1944, the Gomel Region
lost 53,360 civil residents of various nationalities, 61.2% of which were
Jewish. It may be assumed that only a timely evacuation and a stubborn
defense of the oblast in August 1941 prevented even larger population losses.

The Holocaust
reduced the number of Jews in the Gomel Region in many ways and changed its
social and cultural appearance. Jews, who were clearly the second largest
ethnic group in Belorussia, after the Belorussians, permanently gave their
place up to the Russians. In 1959, out of a total Region population of
1,361,841 people, Jews made up only 45,007, or 3.3%, when Belorussians made
up 86.7%, Russians 6.6%, Ukrainians 0.9%, and Poles 0.5%. Places where the Jewish
population was compact changed, the process of migration strengthened,
interest in the Yiddish language weakened, and the number of interfaith
marriages rose. In 1959, only 25.6% of all Jews in the Gomel Region admitted
the Yiddish language as their native tongue, and 2.29% of Jews saw
Belorussian as their native tongue.[i]
On the other hand, as a consequence of the Holocaust, a national
self-consciousness was sharpened and it prompted many to self-identify with
Jews. All this had an effect on the common national politics in Belorussia.
Not only Jews, but also other minorities lost their rights. The attributes of
an ethnic life were left only to the Belorussians as a native nation,
although these attributes were only formalities.

The story of the genocide of Jews in the Gomel Region is not written
and is still awaiting investigation. Jews, as well as Belorussians should be
interested in illuminating this story objectively

Appendix

Table
1

Administrative-territorial Division of the
BSSR and

Population on January 1, 1941

Name of regions
(oblast’)

Area (thousand square
kilometers)

Population

(thousand of people)

Rural

(thousand of people)

Urban

(thousand of people)

Cities and towns

Villages of

Town type

Rural regions

Rural councils

BSSR

225.7

10454.9

8118.8

2336.1

78

131

192

2808

Baranovichi

23.3

1184.4

1012.5

171.9

9

15

26

375

Belostok

20.9

1368.8

934.8

434

13

26

23

334

Brest

17.2

790.4

666.3

124.1

8

10

18

234

Vileyka

20.7

938.3

864.5

73.8

9

9

20

304

Vitebsk

28.3

1293

929

364

8

19

20

309

Gomel

15.8

917.1

656.4

260.7

6

8

15

235

Minsk

28.3

1347.2

931.4

415.8

6

16

21

288

Mogilev

28.9

1402.1

1075.7

326.4

12

11

21

359

Pinsk

16.3

533.6

446.8

86.8

4

6

11

159

Polesye

26.0

680

601.4

78.6

3

11

17

211

(Statistics of conditions of
population households and culture directory Belorussian SSR

at the beginning of the Great
Patriotic War. Publisher: SNK BSSR, Moscow, 1943, p. 25).

Table
2

Distribution of Ghettos on Occupied
Belorussian

Territory, 1941-1943

Generalkommissariats,

Regions

Pre-War
Soviet names of the districts and regions

Ghettos

in per sents (%)

«Volyn-Padoliya»
(Reichskomissariat of «Ukraine»)

Main part of the
Brest, Pinsk, and Polesye regions

45

16.9

Region of «Bialystok»

(a part of Reich)

Bialystok region, and northwest
districts of the Brest region, Grodno city, Volkovysk town

110

41

Zone
of the German military administration («Center» Army Group)

Vitebsk, Mogilev, the great part of Gomel regions, East districts
of Minsk and other districts of Polesye region

43

16

«Weisruthenien»

(Reichskomissariat of «Ostland»)

Baranovichi region, Vileyka, Minsk, Pinsk, Brest and Polesye regions

70

26.1

T ot a l :

On
occupied Belorussian territory

268

100

(This
table was compiled by the author from the following materials: I. Altman. Victims
of Hatred. The Holocaust in the USSR, 1941-1945. Moscow, 2002.;Tragedy of Belorussian Jews during the German Occupation, 1941-1944.
Collection of Documents and Materials. 2nd edition. Ed. R.
Chernoglazova. Minsk, 1997; The Holocaust in Belarus, 1941-1944. Documents and Materials.
Compiled by A.G. Ioffe, G.D. natko, V.D. Selemenev. Minsk, 2002; Shalom Cholawski. The
Jews of Belorussia During World War II.Amsterdam, 1998).

*Including four Child Camps (7-17
years), located in the «Krasny Bereg» economy of the Zhlobin district,
Petrikov, Luchitsy Village of Petrikov district and Parichi.

The
table was created by the author based on the following material: Nazi
Politics of Genocide in Belarus, 1941-1944 Documents and Materials, Minsk, 1984; German-Fascist Genocide in Belarus, 1941-1944. Minsk, 1995, p.346; Places of Compulsory containment of
the Civil Population in Belarus on the Temporarily Occupied Territory During

Table
6

Number of Victims Among the Civil Population
and Prisoners of War on Occupied BelorussianTerritory 1941-1944, According to Extraordinary
Committee

21.D. Romanovsky. How
many Jews were perished in the industrial regions of the West Belorussia at the beginning of the
German occupation (June-December1941)?» //
Vestnik evreiskogo universiteta, № 4 (22), 2000, p. 167.

48.Archive of the author. Letter
from Mikhael Balte and Sara Ber in Rechitsa, January
12, 2000.

49.“Mozyr pages of Holocaust” // Berega (insk), March-April, 2002.

50.Archive of the author. Letter
from Zinovi Vager in Pinsk, March 15, 2001.

51.Zezilia Shapiro recalled
that after escape from Minsk ghetto, she came to Gomel with a
“Russian” passport in Gomel. Kardakov passed her for
check up to German Professor Feber, who made a conclusion, that Shapiro is
not a Jewish. In book: Unknown Black book. Moscow-Jerusalem, 1993 ., p. 255.

53.Bodies of Sima and her daughter Prishchepa buried
after threatens of the neighbors. After liberation, he was trailed and died
in the prison of Mozyr. For another info he was killed by the prisoners
themselves //L.Smilovitsky. “The Fate of Jewish Children of Belorussia During the Holocaust, 1941-1944” // Yalkut
Moreshet, No 68, 1999, pp.121-144 (Hebrew).

66.W.Orbach, “The Destruction of the Jews
in the Nazi-OccupiedTerritories of the USSR” // Soviet Jewish Affairs, No 6 (2)
1976, pp. 32-51.

67.D.Romanovsky. The
Holocaust in the Eyes of "Homo-Sovieticus": A Survey Based on
North-eastern Belorussia and North-western Russia
// Holocaust and Genocide Studies,
No 13 (3). Winter, 1999, pp. 355-382.